Matthew 1:18-25 “The Virgin Birth”

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! Father, what a child. Jesus, we worship you.

You're born the King, the Great I Am.

The one who always was, took on flesh and dwelt for a while among us, for us.

We marvel at that. We wonder at the glory and the greatness of that.

And Father, we confess how much we need it.

And how often we forget the glory of the incarnation.

Would you speak to us through your word this morning as you're already doing?

That our hearts might be a fresh turn to Jesus in wonder and worship and trust and hope and comfort and joy.

Work in us by your spirit, through your word.

We ask that Jesus would be exalted in our hearts, in our church, and in this world.

We pray in his name. Amen.

Every single birth is special, right?

No doubt about that.

Every time that I get in that hospital elevator and I'm going up to get to see a new baby and new parents, there's this energy.

I still feel this excitement in the hospital elevator of all places.

Every single birth is a gift from God.

The one who's the giver of all life.

Who's personally knit that child I'm going to see together fearfully and wonderfully and uniquely in his mother's womb.

But there are three births that I've been associated with that were extra special for me.

Every one is special, but three of the best days of my life, three of the biggest celebrations I've gotten to be a part of when my girls were born.

God's story has been marked with some really special births, too, if you think about it.

Some of them to parents who were beyond childbearing age.

Some to mothers who were suffering long and praying long because they were barren and longing for a child and then God sent one.

But this one is extra, extra special, right?

Because it is his son.

As many of our songs have highlighted this morning, we sing of it a lot this time of year.

This is the only begotten son of God being born into this world.

This we saw last week is the long awaited Messiah, right?

The Christ promised for generations to rescue God's people, the one.

And so after tracing that background of Jesus being the Christ, Matthew highlights now this morning the circumstances surrounding the child's birth.

And they are extra special because they highlight that the child is extra special.

Next week we're going to look at this same passage and notice his names that show us that he's special in what he comes to do.

This morning Matthew highlights the unique nature of his conception that shows us he's special in who he is.

This is, I'm going to read these eight verses in Matthew 1.

I want you to notice four times the unique circumstances surrounding this special child are mentioned.

This is God's holy, inerrant, infallible word that you can always trust, that will guide you right today, that will endure forever.

Matthew 1 at verse 18.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.

When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet.

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us.

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

He took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.

And he called his name Jesus.

Thus far God's holy word.

I promise to you that when I decided to walk through Matthew's account of the birth of Jesus for our Advent and Christmas sermons this year,

that I wasn't planning on talking about the virgin birth.

More exciting, perhaps, is Emmanuel and Jesus and what those names mean, and next week we get to talk about that.

But you just can't miss how important this is to the story.

It's not a footnote.

So I didn't want to treat it that way.

But before we get to why it's important, let's clarify what we mean by the virgin birth.

That's what it's commonly called.

What does Scripture actually say here?

Verse 18.

Verse 20.

That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Verse 23.

Verse 25.

Afterwards, yes, and there were siblings, but not before.

This teaching, this doctrine long held by the church and many of its oldest creeds, like the Nicene Creed we said together this morning.

That's longer than we're used to, right?

The Apostles Creed conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary.

Now, this teaching of the Virgin birth is actually referring more precisely to the supernatural conception.

A child conceived miraculously, not by normal means of human sexuality, but by the power of the Holy Spirit overshadowing Mary.

Dr. Luke tells us, he uses a word that highlights there the special presence of God.

But beyond that, there aren't a lot of details as to how that happens.

Just that God does it.

Because, Luke tells us, nothing is impossible for God.

We're just told that God, through the Spirit's power, directly places a child in the womb of Mary to develop then like other children.

No help from Joseph.

Joseph is taken off guard, isn't he?

During this one-year betrothal period where you were already bound to one another.

You were committed, just not yet formally married and living together.

So, what a shock to Joseph, right?

All of a sudden, a pregnancy.

An angel has to come to him, too, to explain what's going on and how he should proceed.

But why is that important?

See, this child, Joseph, has a father.

He's the eternal son of God.

Fully God.

Now also becoming fully man.

Just without sin.

There's a lot of mystery still there, isn't there?

You got some questions still, perhaps.

Yeah, but can you imagine Joseph and Mary?

How they might have felt?

But what do I tell my parents?

My friends?

We don't get much more explanation.

But I encourage you that the unique entrance of the Son of God into this world seems fitting for some mystery.

It's not repeated.

It's not like anything else we know.

It's not God taking over a human child.

Some have described it that way.

No.

This God-initiated process means, as the great Scottish theologian Donald MacLeod writes,

The human nature of Christ does not exist for a single moment except as the humanity of God.

As the humanity of God.

Wow.

What?

What's going on?

From the very first moment, fully God and fully man.

The Heidelberg Catechism explains what we mean by this in the great creeds when we say it, says it this way.

The eternal Son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took upon Himself true human nature from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary,

through the working of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, He is also the true seed of David, and like His brothers in every respect, yet without sin.

As I've written it, we are affirming by virgin birth the supernatural, not natural, conception of the eternal Son of God.

In other words, He already existed as God.

By the Spirit of God, not in any physical sense from God's end.

In the womb of Mary, though, a real woman.

So that Jesus is born fully God, fully man, without sin.

Utterly unique, extra special.

That's what we mean by the virgin birth.

Now, while the church has affirmed this universally for hundreds of years,

in recent years, some, many even while still claiming to be followers of Jesus as the Christ,

attempt to explain this away as unscientific, or passé, out of date, beneath enlightened thinkers.

It tends to be written off alongside miracles in general.

Miracles like the resurrection?

Certainly not.

I'm going to come back to this in a minute, but for now, I just want to demonstrate that this is the clear teaching of God's Word.

Specifically, it's emphasized here in Matthew, in his account of the birth of Jesus.

You can't miss it.

But just as clearly, in Luke's gospel account that I referenced a minute ago,

which he seems to have sourced directly from Mary herself, among others.

Don't buy the modern mumbo-jumbo trying to reread the Bible to suit our commitments,

predetermined commitments and comforts.

We want it to fit the way we think.

Even when this began to be popularized, the great American 20th century theologian,

J. Gresham Machen, was defending this miracle against many who were beginning to abandon it.

But he clarified, even in that context, that wasn't the argument being made about the Bible wasn't saying this.

Machen writes,

Everyone admits that the Bible represents Jesus as having been conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary.

The only question is whether in making that representation, the Bible is true or false.

Everyone agrees.

Even as they start to argue, this is the clear, repeated, long-passed-down teaching of God's word,

emphasized by Matthew no fewer than four times in eight verses.

So that's what?

Why?

Why does it matter?

Why is believing the virgin birth of Jesus so important?

Why does it matter if I believe it or not?

Well, first let me answer that by telling you one sense in which it does not matter.

Okay?

It does not matter.

It's not important as something that you must understand and believe in order to be saved.

In order to be in right relationship with God.

Here's what I mean by that.

There's not an entrance exam that you have to pass with enough right answers to get into heaven.

That's not how it works.

I feel sure that there are people in heaven who are united to Jesus,

who are covered by his blood,

who are trusting in his righteousness,

who never heard of the virgin birth,

don't know anything about it.

Probably the thief on the cross never made it to that lesson.

Yeah?

Probably didn't come up.

Aren't we thankful, y'all,

that our salvation hinges not on exhaustive and infallible knowledge,

intellectually, theologically of everything possible,

but rather on relationship with the one who himself is mighty to save.

He's the one who saves.

Not how much we know.

So you can be saved without knowing about,

therefore believing in the virgin birth.

But that said,

it's really important.

I want to tell you why.

It's not something to be considered and then just ignored or rejected outright,

except at our eternal peril.

I think this passage indicates it's important for at least three reasons that are referenced here.

At first, it builds our faith in, our gratitude for,

and our wonder at God's word.

See, if we reject the virgin birth due to some naturalistic refusal to believe that God intervenes in this world miraculously at times,

we lose so much,

a bunch of other essential miracles like the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

We're no longer believing in a divine, supernatural Jesus whom we can trust to save us.

May that never be that we would stop believing in him.

Matthew points us to the reliability of the scripture when he quotes from the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah, this Jesus, this Christ, he says,

is the seed of the woman promised all the way back in Genesis.

The Messiah, the Christ, promised hundreds of years before to be born of a virgin.

Now, you can read plenty of debates on that Hebrew word,

but the context is pretty clear in Isaiah,

and it is very clear in Matthew that he means a virgin.

That's part of how it's a sign.

King Ahaz, I'll tell you a little bit more about him next week,

but it's not just King Ahaz,

it's all of God's people, if you notice closely in Isaiah,

that get a sign of God's presence with them.

Emmanuel, God's with you.

Even though, to be clear, short term,

that's more a threat than a promise in Isaiah 7.

But by chapter 9, it's so much more.

We see it's not merely a child born in Ahaz's day,

although there is one,

but a child coming to be wonderful counselor,

mighty God, everlasting father,

prince of peace on David's throne forever.

Never, that's yet another child.

And now, as that promise is fulfilled

in the miraculous conception of Jesus,

our faith is strengthened

in trusting every one of God's promises in his word.

If we reject it for its miraculous character,

we're going to be rejecting God and his word as a whole.

That's really the other option.

And Professor McLeod again,

the virgin birth is posted on guard

at the door of the mystery of Christmas.

Still a mystery, even to the great professor.

None of us must think of hurrying past it.

It stands on the threshold of the New Testament,

blatantly supernatural,

defying our rationalism,

informing us that all that follows

belongs to the same order as itself.

All that follows, supernatural.

You can't read a page of any of the Gospels

with a merely naturalistic explanation

of what's going on there,

of a merely human Jesus.

It doesn't make sense.

Try it.

Read through the Gospels.

It just doesn't hold up that way.

The Bible is clear about the virgin birth.

And we must marvel and trust God.

Secondly, why is it important?

Believing the virgin birth aids our gratitude

for God's work in this world,

and specifically,

his work for our salvation.

I don't know about you,

but it makes me deeply grateful

to know that God can supernaturally intervene

in the natural processes

that he has created

for his sovereign and good purposes.

Because I live most days

in the midst of those natural processes,

and I need him to be able to show up there.

I don't want to lock him out of here,

and of my life,

and of our lives.

Especially not

when what he's doing

is working for our salvation, right?

This is the child, verse 21 says,

who will save his people

from their sins.

See, the Bible is really clear

about this sin problem

that we all inherit

all the way back from Adam.

Every person born with this problem

that we're separated

from the relationship with God

that we were made for.

And Paul discusses this at length

in Romans,

how Adam,

as the head of the human race,

when he sinned,

brought death into the world

for all men

through his sin.

Paul states it very simply

in 1 Corinthians 15.

For as in Adam all die,

so also in Christ

shall all be made alive.

In other words,

we need a new representative.

Representative number one

brings death through sin,

and we need a new representative,

a new head of our race,

a new head of a new creation,

one who is not marred

by Adam's sin,

who had a different origin

altogether.

And how do we see that coming here?

The virgin birth,

with its explicit clarity

that no man is involved

in the conception of the Messiah.

It highlights the uniquely divine,

heavenly origin of Jesus.

Now I'm not saying

that it was definitively

the only way

that that could have happened.

The Bible blames

neither the male gender

nor human sexuality

for sin.

Okay?

So maybe,

hypothetically,

there's another way

besides a miraculous conception

that God could have brought

his son into the world

to be the second Adam

who remains sin-free

and brings life

in place of death.

I don't know.

Maybe.

I don't know if there's another way,

but I know the virgin conception

is the biblical way,

and that's the only one I need.

One way.

And that's the way he came.

See, God wants us

to know something.

I think there's a particular reason

we need to understand this.

God wants us to know for sure,

even if we don't know

all the details

of how that happened,

that our salvation

is about his rescue,

not our recovery.

In this supernatural birth,

God is most evidently

not picking up

something man started,

but initiating

something man needed,

right?

Just so,

just like that.

He is the one

who initiates

our new birth,

Jesus tells us

in John 3.

The new birth

that we all desperately need

if we want even

to see the kingdom of God.

New birth from above.

Born,

not of natural descent

or human decision

or a husband's will,

but born of God.

God sees our need

and he acts

to meet it

rather than demanding

that we live up

to the task,

that we figure it out ourselves,

that we get it done.

Hey,

new birth,

you have to have new birth.

Do it yourself.

Good luck.

I don't know how.

Give yourself life.

What?

I can't do that.

That's why I say

we reject

the virgin birth

at our eternal peril.

We dare not reject

the God who saves

because we can't

save ourselves.

We don't have a God

who helps those

who help themselves,

who comes along

the great processes

we've started

and kind of

fixes it all up for us.

No,

we have a God

who helps those

who cannot

help themselves.

We have a good God

who even as he sends

the one who will

accomplish our salvation

makes sure

that we know

even in how the child

is conceived

that our salvation

is in his strong

and loving hands.

It is safe with him.

You are safe with him

from any weakness

or failure in us.

Amen?

It has to be there.

We have to be able

to trust him

because we can't

trust ourselves.

I love the way

the Heidelberg Catechism

again explains

the benefit to us

of the holy conception

and birth of Christ.

Jesus is our mediator,

the one who goes

between us and God,

who represents us

to God.

And so with his innocence

and his perfect holiness,

he covers in the sight

of God

my sin

in which I was conceived

and born.

King David writes

for all of us,

doesn't he?

Surely I was sinful

from birth,

sinful from the time

my mother conceived me,

sinful from Adam,

passed down

before anyone teaches us

how to sin,

before we start writing up

a list of things

we've done wrong.

We were sinful

from birth and conception,

but Jesus was not sinful.

Specifically,

he was holy

from birth

and conception.

Holy.

And that marvelous truth

helps us grasp

this glorious reality.

would you take just a minute

this Christmas

to stop

and say,

yes,

Jesus,

thank you.

Thank you that it was

for us

and for our salvation

that you came down

from heaven

and were incarnate

by the Holy Spirit

in the womb

of the Virgin Mary.

I'm so grateful

for the reminder

of my desperate need

of such a Savior

who was conceived

not in sin

but in holiness,

who lived

not in sin

but in holiness,

who passed

to those united

to him

not death

but life.

Thank you,

Jesus.

Finally,

in all of this,

in case you

can't tell already,

what we're seeing

most importantly

is that believing

the virgin birth

helps us wonder

at Jesus'

unique person

and nature.

It's about him.

what could be

more important

than knowing

and loving

Jesus

as he really is?

That's why

you need to know

about this,

friends.

That's why it's

in the Bible.

That's why we're

slowing down on it

this morning

because we need

Jesus.

It's okay

if parts of this

remain a mystery

to you.

You don't have

to have a PhD

to know Jesus more.

Jesus is unique,

okay?

I bet you don't

know anybody else

who came here

from the Holy Spirit,

right?

It's okay

if you can't

explain it all

but as God

gives you glimpses,

they can lead you

to greater worship

of and love of

and living for

Jesus.

Remember,

that's what Matthew's

up to.

He wants to help us

understand Jesus

as the Christ.

first with his

lineage that we

talked about last

week and now

with the special

circumstances of

his birth.

Matthew says,

open your eyes.

You can know

from the very

beginning that this

is no ordinary

baby because this

is not the way

babies come.

His conception

and his birth

involve angels,

dreams,

prophecies,

the Holy Spirit,

supernatural

circumstances for

sure.

He doesn't want

you to miss that.

That's the point

of four times

highlighting this

miraculous conception.

The virgin birth

highlights that the

baby is the

promised seed of

the woman,

the long-awaited

Messiah,

the coming king.

In case we need

help seeing it,

this baby is the

son of God

and the divine

God-man.

believing the

virgin birth as

the Bible presents

it helps us to

wonder at the

incarnation of God

himself.

The infinite and

eternal word

become flesh to

dwell among us

and to share with

us his glory.

As John says it

that way,

remember this baby

is the humanity

of God.

God.

Fully God

and fully man.

Never been another

one like this baby.

Never.

Utterly unique

person.

Utterly unique

nature.

But that's who he is

and that's what it

took to save us.

Listen,

a merely human

Jesus may live

perfectly,

but that doesn't

give me

righteousness.

It just gives him

righteousness.

Just a good man

if that's all he is.

A merely human

Jesus may die a

death that is

sacrificial and

exemplary,

but it doesn't pay

for my sins.

If he's just

one man,

he just pays for

his own.

A merely human

Jesus may teach

about a theoretical

resurrection,

but that would not

give me

relationship with

him today and

my lonely pain

or hope for

life eternal

from him.

He couldn't give

that to me.

But friends,

listen,

we don't have

a merely human

Jesus.

No.

We have an

infinite,

holy,

supernatural

Savior.

Praise the

Lord.

Just marvel

at that

for a couple

minutes as we

close.

Think about

who he is.

Think about

who our

favorite Christmas

songs declare

this baby to be

because you're

going to sing

these many times

starting tonight.

Christ,

the newborn

King,

Son of God,

loves pure

light.

Christ,

the Lord of

heaven and

earth,

Lord of all

creation,

King of angels,

angels,

the incarnate

deity,

Prince of

peace,

Son of

righteousness,

the great

I

am.

Perhaps the

best description

of his divine

character is in

O come all ye

faithful,

him calling us

to come and

adore him,

adore him.

Stanza reads,

God of

God,

light of

light,

lo he

abhors not

the virgin's

womb,

very God,

begotten,

not created,

O come,

let us adore

him,

O come,

let us adore

him,

O come,

let us adore

him,

Christ,

the Lord.

Lord.

Just keep

marveling and

adoring him

with me.

This child is

God breaking

into the normal

operations of

the world in

order to save

the world and

that means that

at Christmas as

we behold

Jesus,

we see the

Lord of all

creation lying

among animals,

the king of

all of the

nations in

one tiny

town,

the eternally

spiritual being

in a tiny

body held

by a teenage

mom,

the prince of

peace in

Trinitarian

relationship in

the Godhead

entering a

family with

conflict,

the eternal

God who

exists outside

of time

waiting nine

months to

be born and

many, many

painful days to

grow up,

the savior of

Mary in

her tummy,

the one who

breathes life

into Adam,

who gives

life to the

dead,

breathes air

for the first

time himself,

the great

I am,

Yahweh,

the eternally

self-existent

one,

begins a new

form of

existence,

or perhaps

most simply

and amazingly,

God

becomes

man,

what a

special baby,

no one else

like him

for us

and for our

salvation,

come let us

thank him,

come let us

trust him,

come let us

adore him,

Christ the

Lord,

let's pray,

Jesus we bow

because you are

unlike us,

we are not

worthy,

but you are

holy,

holy,

holy,

holy,

and yet

you took

on flesh,

we worship

you,

we ask

for faith

to trust

you more,

we ask

for your

help that

the worship

of our

hearts,

the adoration

that we feel

in a moment

might be

that which

sustains

throughout

the week

and throughout

our lives,

we ask

for your

help in

that,

in your

name,

amen.

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information,

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online at

southwood.org.